Yes, there are dozens of websites on the internet that
offer free web hosting solutions, but before you place
important information on Geocities
or Freewebs, there's something you must understand:
Trusting your online name to a free web-host
is almost always a bad idea
Why?
Not only do free web hosts often restrict your bandwidth,
offer miserable http transfer speeds, place ads on your
website, or severly limit functionality, but also they
severly limit your potential in less tangible ways.
The most important factor is recognition. It doesn't
matter how small your business is. The average internet
user is going to trust www.MarysPrinting.com over http://angel24index.freehost.server.com
any day of the week. Domain names are cheap, and nowadays
owning a domain isn't just professional, it's a near-absolute
necessity. Your users will come back, note your professionalism,
and be much more likely to remember your URL.
Another factor to consider is the clutter that many free
web hosts force onto the pages of clients. Banner ads,
pop up ads, required links, and flashing advertising messages
will make your content much less accessible and will often
make your website look horrible unprofessional.
Take advice from someone who's been done that road before:
If you care about your online business at all, get a
quality web host, stop wasting your time with self-serving
free web hosts and register a domain name.
If you get stuck, you can check out this handy Web Hosting
Guide.
About the Author
David Saharkhiz is a computer science major and National
Merit Semifinalist at America's Clemson University. He
provides comprehensive web-help and HTML coding tutorials,
codes free HTML scripts, and works to help novice webmasters
set up new websites.
